protection
by SomethingIWouldSay
Summary: Something bad happens to Taylor making her move in with the Boltons. Traylor
1. Chapter 1

"Taylor sweetie, what are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep" she answered crawling into the Bolton's bed and laid down next to Lucille who hugged her tight and rubbed her back.

"Feel better now?" Taylor nodded into her neck and let her tears fall. She hadn't known the Bolton's for very long but she felt closer to them than she felt towards her own mom and brother. Her mom being a 45 year old single mom in New York felt that life was hard and turned to drugs. Her older brother James was 30, he was the outcome of their mom's relationship with her high school sweetheart, Jonathan. He died when James was only 3 years old, he was on his way to work when he was in a car accident that's all Taylor ever got to know. Her mom didn't want to bring up any bad memories. Taylor's own dad Matthew was apparently a successful lawyer in Los Angeles, she had never met him since he apparently wasn't ready to have a family and didn't want anything to do with them. Life hadn't been easy for either of the Mc.Kessies.

"Shh, its okay sweetie just let it all out" Lucille rubbed her back until her crying stopped and she was asleep.

-----

The next morning Taylor was the first one to wake up, she carefully got out of bed and tip toed out of the room so that she wouldn't wake the Bolton's up and made her way downstairs. As she reached the bottom of the stairs she heard someone walking around in the kitchen. Her breathing hitched and she looked around for a good weapon, she needed to defend herself with something. Spotting an umbrella over by the door she sneaked her way over there and grabbed the umbrella, making her way to the kitchen she considered going back upstairs and pretend like this wasn't happening that a stranger wasn't in the kitchen looking through their cabinets for something. Sneaking up behind the man in the kitchen she failed to see the second man by the toaster as she only had her eyes set on the man looking through the refrigerator.

"Troy?" the second one said carefully trying to warn the young man with his head in the refrigerator, Taylor spun around and saw the second one, she didn't know what to do anymore it was now two against one there was no way that she was gonna get out of this alive. She took a defensive stand and looked cautiously at the two men looking at her with bewildered expressions.

"Jack!" she cried after several failed attempts at yelling for help. She was relieved when she heard footsteps running down the stairs.

"What is going on in here?!" Jack yelled as he saw Taylor stand with an umbrella ready to swing at his son and friend.

"Dad, who's that?" Troy asked pointing at Taylor who still hadn't let go of the umbrella.

"Taylor sweetie, you can let go of the umbrella, that's our son Troy and his friend Chad, they're not gonna hurt you" Taylor nodded and put the umbrella down but she still looked unsure of having, to her, two complete strangers in the house. She hadn't left the house since she got to Albuquerque three weeks ago and wasn't planning on going outside anytime soon. The outside world was a scary place.

"Not to be rude but what is she doing here?"

"She lives here, now here's a better question, what are you doing here?" Jack asked his son and friend.

"Summer vacation, remember how I told you I would be coming back for that?"

"Yeah"

"Well summers here and so am I and Chad's just here for the free food" Troy said pointing over to his friend who was busy eating a doughnut while staring at Taylor. Taylor shifted uncomfortable and looked anywhere but the two young men.

"You two stop staring and fix your bags I don't want them in my kitchen" Troy nodded and pumped fists with Chad before grabbing his two bags and headed up the stairs while Chad left through the backdoor to go home.

"I'm sorry we didn't tell you about Troy coming home for the summer it completely slipped my mind" Lucille said stroking Taylor's hair out of her eyes.

-----

"A little help here!" Chad said a he tried to climb in to Troy's room, it looked easy enough from the ground but climbing that tree and then swinging to the window wasn't that easy at all.

"You could have used the front door" Troy grunted as he tried to pull Chad in through the window. He finally fell in to the room and slowly stood up looking around the room.

"Where's the fun in that besides now I can surprise that Taylor girl, man she was fine!"

"Dude stay away from her!"

"Alright you don't have to yell at me, I was just joking, but she is pretty fine" Chad said sitting down on Troy's bed and putting his feet up so that they were hanging over the footboard. Troy sat down on his desk chair with a sigh.

"She is pretty cute but mom said she's had a rough time so she doesn't need us drooling over her"

"Fine with me I had my eyes set on Gabi anyway"

"You mean that brunette freshman right?"

"That's the one" Chad smiled tossing Troy's stuffed basketball to Troy who threw it back and so a game of horse was started.

-----

"Come on let's ask Taylor if she wants to play some basketball cause this shit is boring as hell!" Chad exclaimed as he threw the stuffed basketball into Troy's desk drawer before he made his way out of Troy's room and down to the kitchen where Taylor was sitting reading a book as the Bolton's were out in the backyard attending to Lucille's garden. It wasn't a very big garden considering a basketball court was only a few feet away.

"Hey Taylor?" she looked up and found Chad or in her case the 'bushy haired one' followed by Troy "wanna play some basketball, Troy's great and all but I need some entertainment, so wanna play" Taylor looked out in the garden and saw the Bolton's laughing and she started to think that the backyard wasn't like the park, the only people here were the Bolton's and a bushy haired guy.

"Sure" she marked the page in her book and slowly got up and followed the two out the backdoor. The fresh air felt cold against her skin and she felt a sense of freedom at the same time she felt scared, she couldn't get passed the feeling of someone watching her. She smiled uneasily over at Lucille and Jack as they looked at her with surprise clearly written on their faces but they still smiled over at her, glad that she was starting to get over her fears.


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright since we are three people playing I suggest we play horse" Chad said as he dribbled the ball.

"What you dragged both me and Taylor out here to play horse again?!" Troy yelled looking pissed of.

"Not regular horse we play every letter you get the person who threw you the ball gets to ask you a question and whoever gets horse first is out of the game as usual" Troy nodded seeming to agree with Chad's proposition while Taylor felt more and more uncomfortable for each second.

"Troy, catch!" Chad said throwing the ball to Troy who caught it with ease, Troy in turn threw a nice easy ball to Taylor who had no problem catching it. Chad however wasn't as lucky seeing as he missed the ball "Ask away"

"Umm, how old are you?" she asked after a moment of silence.

"21" he threw the ball at Troy and they went on and on. Taylor found out that Chad was born on June 6th, he had two brothers and shared a dorm room with Troy.

"Please man, catch this one" Troy begged as Taylor giggled. She threw him an easy ball that he missed once again.

"Okay one last question"

"Why can't you catch the ball, it's not like its too small and you can't see it?" Taylor said as Chad threw the ball at Troy who was trying to hold in his laughter, hitting him in the gut.

"I'm just having a bad day"

"Yeah right" Taylor said under her breath hopping he didn't hear her.

"Just so you know I was on my high school basketball team, tell her Troy"

"Man right now I wonder why we even let you try out" Troy laughed.

"If you were on the basketball team then you should know how to catch the ball" Taylor said before she caught the ball Troy threw at her.

"That's it make her pay Troy, make her pay" Chad said in a whining yet evil tone of voice as he plopped down on the grass next to the basketball court looking on as the other two passed the ball back and forth "This is gonna take forever" he whined after only two minutes.

"Chad if you're bored go home or grab a plant" Jack said, Chad grumpily stood up and made his way over to the Bolton's and grabbed a plant asking where they wanted it in the garden.

"Is he always that whiny?" Taylor asked as they continued to pass the ball back and forth.

"Pretty much"

"Then why are you still hanging out with him?" she figured it was better talking to Troy and get to know him a little if they were gonna live under the same roof, she'd rather be comfortable around him then uncomfortable.

"We have known each other since kindergarten so we're like brothers now and although brothers fight and get annoyed with each other they stick by each other. Plus Chad has his bright sides, he makes you laugh at any given moment and he comes up with something to do all the time so you're never bored" Troy missed the ball Taylor threw at him "Guess you have to ask a question" he said as he retrieved the ball from the other side of the court.

"I'm guessing you're born the same year as Chad so when is your birthday?"

"November 25" he answered as he threw the ball and so they continued for another minute until Taylor missed the ball. Chad hollered as he saw Taylor run after the ball knowing she had missed it.

"Ask her something good" he yelled to Troy who gave him an annoyed look.

"And what would be a good question?"

"I don't know maybe, ask her if she has seen an alien or something" he said turning his attention to Taylor who was walking back with the ball in both hands trying to hold in her laughter "Hey missy don't laugh at my questions!"

"Shut up Chad, okay how old are you?"

"16 but I'll be 17 in mars"

"I hate to tell you but that is about 9 months away from now"

"I know but I can't wait" she squealed as she threw the ball at Troy who was to busy laughing at her squealing that he missed the ball.

"Alright ask away" he said with a sigh as he retrieved the ball once again from the other side of the court.

"Chad said you both were in your high schools basketball team. What position were you?"

"I was a forward plus I was the captain sophomore, junior and senior year"

"So then you shouldn't really be missing any of these balls" she said with a small smirk.

"Hey, I'm only missing some of the balls so you wouldn't feel to bad about it besides it can't be that fun hearing all about me and Chad, I know I don't think it's fun hearing about Chad"

"Hey man, you love hearing stuff about me" Chad yelled at Troy earning a firm look from Jack.

"We don't want the neighbours coming by and complaining about a loud mouth living here" he warned.

"You know you love me" was all Chad said before turning back to his plant that still wasn't planted in the ground.

"I should probably start dinner" Lucille said standing up and dusting the dirt of her knees "Taylor would you mind helping me?"

"No, I'll be right there" she said as she caught the ball Troy had just thrown at her. She looked around the yard and then at the ball. Troy seeing that she didn't quite know what to do with the ball took it.

"I'll take that and you can help mom" he said giving her a small smile he hoped didn't make him look like a chauvinistic pig. She gave him a small smile back before heading inside the house, her safe haven, to help Lucille with dinner. Troy watched her walk of taking notice of how her hips swayed and how her hair blew in the light wind outside. He also took notice to how she rubbed one of her arms uncomfortably and how she bit her lip when she thought no one saw. There was something about Taylor that he was attracted to.

"Snap out of it Troy, she'd way to young for you" he said to himself as he watched her enter the house.


	3. Chapter 3

Taylor was in the kitchen grating cheese for the lasagne as Lucille made the sauce and fixed the pasta plates in the dish.

"Are you almost done with the cheese sweetie?" she asked turning around to Taylor so she could talk to the teen face to face.

"Yeah, I'm all, done" she finished saying with a big smile on her face as she handed the bowl with grated cheese over to Lucille.

"Can you start on the salad?"

"Sure" she went over to the fridge and bent down to the lowest shelf and grabbed all the vegetables that she needed before closing the door and returning to the kitchen island.

"Mom, there's a situation outside" Troy said coming in to the kitchen giving his mom a look, a look that only meant one thing.

"Chad Michael Danforth what have you done now!" she yelled walking out the door and over to Chad who tried to look innocent, Troy chuckled as he watched through the window how his best friend tried to hide away from his mom.

"So" Troy said sitting down in one of the chairs at the kitchen island trying to come up with something to strike up a conversation between him and Taylor "play any sports?" Taylor looked up at him but quickly returned her gaze to the vegetables in front of herself.

"I have played chess"

"I'm sorry to say but that's not a sport, a sport is doing something physical"

"Well you physically move the pieces" she answered shrugging her shoulders.

"But that's still not a sport, basketballs a sport, football, even golf is a sport but not chess" he said stealing a piece of cucumber from the board and quickly putting it in his mouth before Taylor could protest. He was used to his mom always nagging him about how he had to wait for dinner and getting his hand swatted away.

"Golf is not a sport, that's a game for middle aged men with to much time on their hands to play" Taylor said hotly dumping the cut up vegetables in the salad bowl and started to mix them all together.

"Don't let Chad hear you say that" Troy warned leaning back to see out through the door if Chad was coming or not.

"Why not?"

"His dad is a professional golfer and on the side he's a, what was it? He's a, he's a, he works at the bank"

"He plays golf for a living?" Taylor said looking incredulously at Troy who was smirking at her reaction.

"Yeah, so don't say anything bad about golf when Chad is around okay?"

"Sure whatever makes the golf ball head happy" she said as she moved around the island towards the table that was already set with five plates and set the salad down. A loud ding could be heard from the timer signalling that the lasagne was done, Taylor quickly made her way over to it and found the oven mitt to take the dish out and put it on the table with Troy watching her every move.

Outside Lucille was still giving Chad an earful about her ruined plants and how he was going to have to clean the basketball court all by himself while Jack was still putting the remaining plants in their right full place, Lucille had marked where every single plant was supposed to go.

"Jack!" he looked up from his work and saw that Taylor was calling out to him "dinners ready!" he nodded and looked over at his wife and tried to get her attention.

"Hun, dinners ready, you can continue with Chad's punishment later" he said as he made his way inside the house to wash up. Knowing his wife he wouldn't be let near the table with dirt on his hands, to him it didn't matter but to his wife it did. A happy Lucille made for a happy Jack.

-----

"This is stupid" Chad complained as he swept the basketball court clean with a broom, trying to get rid of all the dirt he somehow had gotten all over the court. How? He still didn't.

"Stop your complaining and sweep, the sooner your done the sooner I can go in" Troy yelled at him. Troy was made to supervise his friend to make sure that he actually did what he was supposed to and Troy was getting more and more annoyed with Chad for every minute that passed "how hard is it to not make a mess?" he muttered under his breath as he watched Chad trip over the broom "get up of your fat ass and sweep I wanna go inside tonight if that's possible"

"Take it easy there cowboy, I know you wanna see Taylor and all but slow your horses I'll be done in a minute" he said brushing of his jeans and getting back to his sweeping before they both knew it Chad was done and the two could finally go back inside the house after Lucille had inspected the court and given her approval.

"So. What to do now?" Chad pondered as he moved over the kitchen floor tapping his chin as if he was thinking "we could bother Taylor some more, she's fun plus she's hot as hell"

"I thought you said you had your mind set on Gabriella" Troy said trying to hide the jealousy he felt when Chad talked about Taylor.

"I have my mind set on her but right now I have my eyes set on Taylor"

"You can set your eyes all you want on me but if you try something there's gonna be some body parts missing if you catch my drift" Taylor said making her way to the fridge and grabbed a water bottle before quickly leaving the room again.

"Okay, she's fine as hell but she scares the crap out of me" Chad said grabbing the chips bag from the counter and followed after Taylor, leaving Troy in the kitchen with a satisfied smirk on his face.

-----

"Jack, I think it's time to go to bed" Lucille said seeing as it was 11 pm and she had work tomorrow.

"Alright" he said groaning as he too stood up from the couch and said goodnight to the three youths before following his wife up the stairs.

"Alright now I can finally see Leno again" Chad exclaimed grabbing the remote of the coffee table and switched the channel to NBC where Jay was doing the nights monolog "man he's funny"

"You do know that other people write what he is supposed to say right?"

"Dude, why do you have to ruin everything for me?"

"That's what I'm here for ruining your fun and supervising your cleaning" Troy answered to which Chad retaliated by sticking his tongue out.

"Taylor you gotta help me out here, whack him in the head or something" Chad said turning to face her only to see that she had fallen asleep in the armchair.

"Maybe we should get her to her room" Troy suggested as he watched her sleep.

"You do that then I'm gonna watch this" Troy made his way over to Taylor and carefully lifted her up in his arms and carried her up the stairs to her room bridal style letting her head rest against his chest. He kicked her door open praying that it wouldn't slam against the wall and wake her up, not hearing a slam he made his way into the room and laid her carefully on her bed and wrapped the blanket at the end of her bed around her to keep her warm during the night. He sat down next to her and admired her beauty for awhile and tucked some loose hair behind her ear and stroked her cheek softly, he smiled when he felt her lean in to his touch. He could sit there for hours if it wasn't for the fact that he knew Chad would question him about why he was taking so long getting Taylor to bed. He reluctantly got of the bed and closed the door behind himself and made his way down the stairs trying to ignore the new feeling rising in him.


End file.
